Missionary Biography: Anna Tan
(Excerpt written by RA, published June 2013 for Global Prayer Digest)
“When your bucket gets kicked, what spews forth will be either bitterness or blessing. I can’t answer for others, but I know what I desire. When God takes me through suffering, I want to respond with blessing,” commented Anna Tan, Singaporean missionary to the Sasak Muslims of Lombok island, Indonesia.
One morning in 2001, Anna was found with 80 percent of her body covered in 2nd and 3rd degree burns. Anna had awakened to the daily routine of making coffee in anticipation of her time with the Lord. The propane gas tank, which supplied the stovetop operation, had leaked profusely overnight. In her sealed kitchen area she unknowingly walked into a cloud of undetectable gas and lit a match.
Anna obeyed the Lord’s voice to demonstrate and proclaim the glory of Christ among the Sasak people. Her life represents just one from among the 70 missionaries who have come and gone in service among them in the past 23 years of modern mission efforts. For those of us still called to be among the Sasak, we jointly believe God to launch a rapidly multiplying movement of Sasak worshipers of Christ.
Anna is a reminder of the high cost and the privilege of obeying God’s voice to the least reached peoples. She spewed forth blessing as she clung to Christ’ sufficiency, even as she died.
Pray for the Holy Spirit to plant blessings in the hearts of disciples of Jesus who face suffering.
Isaiah 25: 7b-8
On this mountain He will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; He will swallow up death forever.
The end of shrouds, funerals and the stench of death; that is what Isaiah is proclaiming. And this is a promise to the faithful in all nations. How can anyone say no to such a promise? Though the majority of humanity will say no, there will be a remnant from all nations that will say yes to the Lord, and yes to life. That is why we pray for them.
Pray that the Lord will bring unimaginable life to the nations that we intercede for this month.
No comments:
Post a Comment